A former deputy clerk at the Montgomery County Trustee's Office is accused of taking more than $12,000 in cash from customers trying to pay property taxes, according to the state office that audits governments.

The employee repaid part of the money and Montgomery County Trustee Brenda Radford repaid the rest, documents note.

The findings were released Monday by the Tennessee Comptroller's Office, which audited Montgomery County.

Montgomery County Trustee Brenda Radford

Montgomery County Trustee Brenda Radford

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"The theft was first discovered by the Trustee’s Office on Dec. 22, 2017, when a taxpayer visited the office to verify that his 2017 property tax payment had been received; however, the property taxes were not reflected as paid," a news release from the Comptroller's Office reads. "The taxpayer then presented a receipt showing his payment had been made with cash."

The deputy clerk who issued the receipt admitted to taking the money, according to the news release.

The clerk was not named Monday.

Montgomery County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Sandra Brandon said the clerk's name was being withheld because the case is still under investigation and will be presented to a grand jury.

The deputy clerk temporarily changed the mailing address for those properties to her personal address, so any delinquent tax notices would be mailed to her instead of the taxpayer, according to the comptroller's release.

After the issue was discovered, the woman was fired and the Trustee's Office contacted the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.

A statement from Radford said she is cooperating with the investigation. She also chose to withhold the deputy's name.

The Comptroller’s Office has confirmed that the entire $12,461 has been repaid to the Trustee’s Office. The former deputy clerk repaid $3,749, and Radford paid $8,712 from her personal funds to liquidate the cash shortage, documents note.

"To protect the integrity of the Trustee’s Office, I repaid the property tax revenue and I will be reimbursed at a later date," Radford wrote in a letter to The Leaf-Chronicle.

It was not clear how Radford would be reimbursed.

“The Trustee’s Office should ensure that adequate steps are taken to safeguard taxpayer money within the office,” said Comptroller Justin P. Wilson. “This includes carefully scrutinizing voided transactions and reviewing software audit logs. I am pleased to note the Trustee has indicated these changes have been made.”

The annual audit also found that the trustee did not file a Fraud Reporting Form as requested by the state in a timely manner. It states that while a supervisor had been required to approve the voided transactions, they were not verified and audit logs were not periodically reviewed.

The Trustee's Office addressed the issue by removing permission for anyone but the trustee or chief deputy trustee to void cash transactions, according to the audit.

But in her letter, Radford said safeguards in the Trustee’s Office were already in place.

"The deputy trustee never had the ability to void her own receipts," the letter reads.

Radford also said she did her part as soon as the office learned of a problem, firing the deputy trustee and contacting the sheriff's department, which arrested the employee.

"I have given the Management’s response in the FY2016-2017 Audit by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury," she wrote. "I continue to cooperate with the Sheriff’s Department investigators and the Assistant District Attorney General (Robert) Nash to provide documents and comments as they prepare to bring this case to the grand jury."

There were no other findings in Montgomery County's audit.

Anyone who suspects fraud, waste or abuse of public money in Tennessee can call the Comptroller’s toll-free hotline at 800-232-5454, or file a report online at: www.comptroller.tn.gov/hotline.

Reach Reporter Stephanie Ingersoll at singersoll@theleafchronicle.com or 931-245-0267 and on Twitter @StephLeaf.